


Already

by melisgoing2hell



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 2nd Year, Fake dating???, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, OC-Character, One Shot, Pining, harrassment, lying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:51:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melisgoing2hell/pseuds/melisgoing2hell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anything that he knew Tsukishima couldn’t handle or didn’t want to handle Yamaguchi would take care of. Ordering his own food, asking for assistance (if he ever needed it), asking for advice, even making his food when he was too busy to cook. Even relationships, Yamaguchi was constantly apologizing for Tsukishima’s behavior, he was bridging bonds toward his fellow classmates and worst of all, telling any and all of his admirers no.</p><p>Yamaguchi learns something even he didn’t know about Tsukishima’s relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Already

**Author's Note:**

> So this was just a wierd brain baby!! Sorry it's kind of awkward!!

It wasn’t a long shot to think that Yamaguchi coddled Tsukishima Kei. Actually, it was an undisputed fact, even Yamaguchi knew that. 

Anything that he knew Tsukishima couldn’t handle or didn’t want to handle Yamaguchi would take care of. Ordering his own food, asking for assistance (if he ever needed it), asking for advice, even making his food when he was too busy to cook. Even relationships, Yamaguchi was constantly apologizing for Tsukishima’s behavior, he was bridging bonds toward his fellow classmates and worst of all, telling any and all of his admirers no.

Sometimes, he could catch them before they tried to make a move and turn them away, it seemed mean to let Tsukishima hurt them with curt words when he could easily let them down gently. It was also easier than letting Tsukishima tell them he was in a relationship. Which was a lie. (A big one. Seriously, Yamaguchi spent almost all his time with the guy. He would know.)

Of course he would make sure Tsukishima didn’t like them first. Which Tsukishima would always tell him how he felt about people honestly, brutally honestly.

“She has a annoying laugh, have you heard it? It’s all nose and throat. I’d have to be deaf, obviously.”

“If he tries to get my number one more time, I’m going to start pretending I’m deaf.”

“I don’t have the time to deal with that mess.” 

“Tsukki, you’re a mess.”

“Yeah. And I’m too busy dealing with my mess.”

Really. Honestly. Yamaguchi was doing everyone a favor.

So, when the new first years came at the beginning of their second year in Karasuno, Yamaguchi could immediately tell that the tallest one would be trouble. Kota Makoto was a 189cm middle blocker with a cheeky smile and a thing for blondes. Rude, curt, tall blondes. He bugged Yachi sometimes too. But Yamaguchi knew that if he got too familiar with her, Tanaka and Nishinoya would handle it so he kept his nose out of it.

Tsukishima though.

Now, given Tsukishima has grown as a person in the last year, and despite his painfully obvious crush; Yamaguchi had every intention of giving the kid a chance to win Tsukishima’s heart. But cute crush aside, Kota’s strong, hyper personality just- wasn’t Tsukishima’s type.

And the near constant flirting had Tsukishima annoyed. Desperate moves to get Tsukishima’s attention like trying to get him to help him with his blocking techniques was more effort than Tsukishima wanted to put into someone else. He would try to eat lunch with him and Yamaguchi and even try to call him Tsukki. 

The way Tsukishima would glare at him when he tried to push himself between him and Yamaguchi didn’t make him stop either. Yamaguchi ignored the giddy feeling in his stomach when Tsukishima ignored Kota in favor of him. Its not like Kota was mean to him since he was so close to Tsukishima. And sure he would never get tired of listening to Tsukishima tell Kota that he was too busy walking home with Yamaguchi to walk with him.

Yes, despite ignoring it, Yamaguchi has a painfully strong crush on the blondes de himself. He just handled it better. He had been by Tsukishima’s side for so long that by the time he realized his feelings, he was already Tsukishima’s best friend and he didn’t want to lose him to his feelings. So he pushed his feelings aside and took care Tsukishima instead.

But it was obvious to Yamaguchi, that he would have to dissuade Kota’s feelings himself when it started to affect Volleyball. 

During a practice match, Kota jumped with Tsukishima to block one of Hinata’s quicks. But instead of jumping beside him, his jump went too far and he knocked over onto Tsukishima and both toppled onto the floor in a flurry of long limbs. “What the heck was that?! You were all over the place, Kota!!” Tanaka yelled walking over to pull Tsukishima up as Ennoshita helped Kota. “Aw, sorry guys! I got distracted!” Kota laughed scratching the back of his head and cocking his head toward Tsukishima blushing sheepishly, the other first years just laughed at his stupid antics.

Tsukishima looked like he might actually choke the kid out. 

Before Yamaguchi could hurry over to mediate, Tsukishima pushed past him to leave the gym. He looked beyond PISSED and only mumbled to Yamaguchi something about getting more water. Yamaguchi felt cold sweat break out on his forehead from the intensity of Tsukishima’s anger, he hadn’t seem him this mad since Akiteru showed Yamaguchi his baby pictures.

Ennoshita motioned for Yamaguchi to come over to him, “I need you to handle that, Yamaguchi. I’ll try to get Kota to back off but if Tsukishima breaks his neck before his stupid crush ends, we lose our second tallest player…” he sighed heavily watching the first years talk amongst each other. Ennoshita knew that the little crushes of boys would fade with time. But Yamaguchi knew what he had to do. He had to talk to Kota too.

After Yamaguchi talked Tsukishima down from throttling the fanatic, they returned to practice and it remained thankfully uneventful. Although, Tsukishima decided to trade out with Yamaguchi during the remainder of the match, who had been on the other team. Kota didn’t seem as bothered with his interest on the other side to look at. The whole situation would be funnier if it was Hinata and Kageyama in it, Yamaguchi was sure of it. But he couldn’t laugh at the discomfort on Kei’s face. Even if, he sort of wanted to. The humor was the only thing keeping him from getting jealous.

After practice, Yamaguchi didn’t have to seek Kota out and was instead cornered in the supplies closet by the only slightly taller underclassmen. “Yamaguchi–senpai!! Can I ask you something!?” the boy looked excited to be close enough to bug Yamaguchi for little details about Tsukishima. Yamaguchi almost felt bad for him.

“Uh… Yeah sure…” Yamaguchi mumbled forcing himself to smile at Kota. The guy had enough energy to rival Nishinoya and Hinata put together, he wasn’t even a bad guy, he’s just stupid. And not stupid like Hinata and Kageyama, well, maybe he was giving them too much credit. Kota shared their love of Volleyball and inability to be at all self-aware. “What kind of things does Tsukki like? Whenever I ask, he tries to avoid the question! He’s so shy!” He gushed and Yamaguchi found himself laughing at Kota calling someone a year older and five centimeters taller ‘cute’. Especially with his RBF.

Though, there was not a more opportune time to let him down gently. “Oh, oh Geez, look Kota.” He began with a sigh noting the way the taller boy seemed to deflate at his tone. “Tsukki- Tsukishima (he corrected trying to break the boy of the habit) is… different. He’s not into relationships. At all. Trust me, it’s not you, he’s just not the dating type.” He tried explain patting the boy on the shoulder as Kota’s smile faltered. 

Now there were only so many ways this could go, and eerily enough, they corresponded with the five stages of grief. Something that never failed to leave Yamaguchi with a grin at his own dark humor. It was all just too melodramatic. He had been chasing Tsukishima’s tail for years with a unrequited crush and seeing other lives ruined by the meal utterance of ‘he’s just not that into you’ never failed to make Yamaguchi laugh (on the inside) ((he wasn’t a compete jackass)).

Direction one: Denial.

“No, but he really seemed to like me!” Sakura Asahiko. 6th grade.

He asked to borrow your pencil. Not your heart. That was seriously the only time Tsukishima had ever spoken to her.

Direction two: Anger

“What the Fuck?! He sends a lackey to tell me instead? Ass hole!!” Kentarou Furukawa. 7th grade.

Lackey. Uh huh. He was a bigger jerk than Tsukishima could ever be.

Direction three: Bargaining

“But!! Just one date!! You don’t know! Maybe he could like me!” Fujimora Kaoru 6th grade.

Oh no. The three weeks you’ve known Tsukishima makes you an expert, obviously you would know better than Yamaguchi, his childhood friend. Those sort of desperate fools usually continued on to bug Tsukishima and get their hearts’ broken. 

Direction four: Depression

“N-No!! But I loved him!!” Seriously. “How will I recover from this??” Hiro Fukuoka 8th grade.

Those were always the worst. They would start sobbing and Yamaguchi would feel bad. He once spent three hours comforting a girl in 7th grade and only stopped when she then tried to make a move on him. Heart break really messes with people.

Direction five: Acceptance 

Well. The only one who has really encompassed the idea of acceptance. That was himself, Yamaguchi Tadashi. He had managed to keep his feelings locked away in the dark deep corners of his mind for years. He had set it all aside to maintain a deep healthy friendship with Tsukishima and became his best friend. He had accepted that Tsukki would never return his feelings and was prepared for that. He loved Tsukki as his best friend more than his love interest anyway.

But. Maybe there was hope for Kota after all. He could be one of the few that accepted Tsukishima‘s weird ways and give up on him before he got hurt. The guy had good intentions but he was just way too intense for the mild Tsukishima. His green eyes seemed to darken as he glanced away from Yamaguchi, “Oh… But I thought…” he began to mumble and fidget with the hem of his shirt. A lot like Tsukishima does. Yamaguchi wondered idly while he waited for his words to sink in if it was a tall person thing since often it was hard to find shirts that fell all the way down his midsection. An issue Yamaguchi was familiar with himself. 

“No but.. “ Uh oh… Denial…

“Maybe he does like me! You – You wouldn’t know… he’s just shy” he started to ramble his arms in the air trying to emphasize his point, Yamaguchi took a step back to not get hit by the wildly flailing arms. “K-Kota I think we both know that’s not true…” he tried to offer quietly. He knew how to handle denial. “But! He could like me!” Kota argued his voice starting to raise. Anger? God he hated these ones.

“Kota. Calm down.” Truth be told, Yamaguchi used his best Daichi impression for those words trying to square his body to command him. Kota shut his mouth and glared a bit at Yamaguchi but seemed to calm down slightly.

“Look. I know you think this is happening too fast but trust me, it’s better to give up now before you really get hurt. You are a nice guy, I think Shiro really likes you anyway…” Yamaguchi tried to offer, and he knew he wasn’t lying. Shiro was the shortest member of their team and had been dragged into practice by Nishinoya to become the next libero. Nishinoya’s own apprentice. The poor guy. He didn’t really like volleyball yet but he was going to be the best libero once Nishinoya was done with him.

“Shiro is… He’s not Tsukki….” 

Okay but he is a lot like him. Seriously he’s just Tsukishima in a smaller package.

“I think we both know that’s not true… Kota trust me this is for the best…” Yamaguchi patted him on the shoulder trying to comfort him. “What about you?” Kota looked down Yamaguchi expectantly like he was supposed to respond to such an open ended question. Yamaguchi’s stomach sank heavily and he swallowed hard trying to school his face to stay calm. “What… what do you mean?” He asked quietly taking another step back. 

“Is this because you like him?” Kota started to get worked up again and Yamaguchi felt his face heat up, “Y-you’re kidding right? No way I’m not stupid…” Yamaguchi managed to laugh nervously while waving his hands dismissively, his eyes avoiding Kota’s. He couldn’t let his feelings for Tsukishima get in the way of this talk. It would make it too personal. “You do like him, don’t you? You just want to keep him to yourself!” Kota argued taking a step closer. Yamaguchi hated when this happened. He hated being the bad guy and being blamed for this, as if he wasn’t trying to help them more than himself. He almost wished Tsukishima would find someone he liked so that he could give up on him for good. He hated when they acted like he wasn’t dealing with the same pain as them!

“Kota. I’m not dignifying that with a response.” He grumbled trying to glare at him. There was no bite to his glare though, and Kota knew that, despite being a year older Yamaguchi wasn’t threatening at all. 

Before the situation could get out of hand, the doors to the storage closet opened, letting in the light and a tall blonde middle blocker. Tsukishima looked into the small dark room, his eyes were slow to adjust. “Yamaguchi we were supposed to leave half an hour ago” he snapped, once he got a good look his glare narrowed in on Kota. The situation didn’t look promising, Yamaguchi backed into a wall by the taller Kota looking nervous and angry. “What the hell is going on?” He snapped walking over to put distance between Yamaguchi and Kota. 

“Tsukki it’s not-!” Yamaguchi tried to explain before Kota exploded; “Why won’t you give me a chance?!” Kota yelled at him, his chest was heaving. 

Now, this situation had happened a couple times before, it’s not like Tsukishima wasn’t aware of what Yamaguchi did to keep the peace but he just never really acknowledged it. Whenever the scorned admirer would try and argue or confront him, it usually just made Tsukishima meaner.

Tsukishima frowned and rose an eyebrow at Kota before glancing back at Yamaguchi questioningly. Yamaguchi looked away and bit his lower lip, only confirming Tsukishima’s suspicions. The taller boy huffed lightly and turned back to the first year with a even glare, “I don’t see why I should have to give you a reason. Really, it’s none of your business. But, I’m already in a relationship with someone” he explained crossing his arms. 

Yamaguchi sighed and leaned against the wall, it was a lie but at least Kota didn’t know that. Tsukishima was better at lying than he was. 

Kota looked like he didn’t believe him anyway. He huffed and curled his hands into fists at his side, “Really? Because Yamaguchi-senpai said that you aren’t ‘into relationships’! Which is true??” He demanded, emphasizing with his fingers in the air. Tsukishima glanced back at Yamaguchi with a raised eyebrow, who sheepishly shrugged his shoulders and looked away, he wasn’t the one lying and he didn’t want to start.

“Yamaguchi was lying.” Tsukishima corrected him coldly. 

“Who is it then? Who is it? Do I know them??” Kota asked desperately, he almost looked like wanted to cry, which was only making Yamaguchi feel worse. Tsukishima rolled his eyes, not feeling bad for the kid who had been bugging him for months, “I don’t see how it’s any of your business. But.” He shrugged and jerked a thumb behind him at the brunette against the wall.

“I’m dating Yamaguchi.” 

“What.”

“What?!”

Yamaguchi’s face had never burned so much. His skin lit up all the way down to his chest. “Tsukki! He’s on our team! Don’t lie to him like that!” He grabbed Tsukishima’s elbow pulling him around to look at him. This was a joke. He had put up with so much! He had stayed by Tsukishima’s side for years keeping his feelings a secret but he was no masochist! (Not much at least) He refused to be a fake boyfriend so that Tsukishima could blow off admirers. Just the thought felt like a slap in the face and a tear in his heart. A deep, burning gash in his heart.

Before he could try to correct his best friend’s words, the absolute confusion on Tsukishima’s face struck him silent. His eyebrows furrowed, his head tilted to the side and lips irked in a confused grimace. He didn’t look like he was lying.

“I’m… I’m not lying.” He corrected Yamaguchi, “We are dating.” 

Yamaguchi’s mouth fell agape. He tried to find the truth in Tsukishima‘s eyes but found nothing. “Wait… Wait no we aren’t…” he back pedaled quickly shaking his head lightly. But Tsukishima wasn’t budging. “Okay, hold on, who is lying here??” Kota asked exasperated by the whirlwind of words.

“He is” “He is” they said in unison. 

They looked at each other equally confused. Yamaguchi took a step closer to Tsukishima, searching- begging for a hint to follow his lead, a small smirk, a shrug, a wink, a quirk of the eyebrow, anything to show him that Tsukishima wasn’t serious!! But he found nothing. “Oh my god you aren’t lying…” he whispered his voice hoarse as he covered his mouth and looked at the ground. 

“No. I’m not.” Tsukishima corrected him looking away, he almost looked hurt. “Wait. Wait. Wait. You had no idea?” Kota asked pointing at Yamaguchi, his heart break forgotten for the drama unfolding in front of him. Yamaguchi shook his head shooting a look up at Tsukishima, “Why didn’t you tell me??” He whispered to him. “I thought it was pretty obvious” Tsukishima shrugged looking back down at him. Yamaguchi felt his head spinning, he grabbed the nearest wall. 

“How long??” 

“Three years, have you seriously not noticed?”

“Three years??”

“Well you are kind of ditsy Yamaguchi-senpai” Kota shrugged, the glare Tsukishima sent him was enough to scare him back though. “I-I think… I think I’ll go” he stammered backing away toward the door and rushing out. Tsukishima clicked his tongue in annoyance, Kota had far over stayed his welcome on their private conversation, anyway. He glanced back at Yamaguchi, who looked sort of dizzy. “Don’t get sick, it’s not a big deal” he shrugged.

“Not a big deal?! Tsukki, you said we have been dating for three years!! How is that possible??” He asked looking sort of panicked.

“Well… We spend all of our free time together. You’re the first person I text in the morning and the last person I text at night. You have a nickname for me that only you use, you know more about me than my own brother. You make me lunch if my mother doesn’t have time-“

“Well that’s just being ni-“

“Not done. You finish my french fries for me and always buy me strawberry shortcake when I’ve had a bad day. Which, I prefer the one you learned to make specifically for me-“

“It wasn’t specif-“

“Let me finish. You go out of your way to send me terrible dinosaur puns, and in turn, I go out of my way to send you pictures of any dogs I see. Any time someone starts to get a crush on me, you tell them I’m not interested and I do the same for you-“ 

“You wh-?!”

“If someone decides to bully you or tease you, I take care of it. We spend the night at each other’ houses, routinely. You are the only person I actively talk to. You are the only person I want to talk to. And, how did you not notice any of that?” Tsukishima’s eyes bored through Yamaguchi’s. After his tirade, Yamaguchi felt like his entire relationship with Tsukishima had been turned on its’ head. Like everything suddenly made sense. He wasn’t like that with other friends, he didn’t make them lunch or spend the night with them, he didn’t constantly text them or check on them. He couldn’t tell how their day had been from the way they said hi. He didn’t love his other friends.

“…wow.” Was all he could manage.

“In sixth grade I asked you out and you agreed” Tsukishima said walking over to Yamaguchi, his hand reassuringly touched his back trying to comfort him. Yamaguchi choked out a laugh and swallowed hard before whispering, “I thought you were being sarcastic. You had just gotten done making fun of two people who were trying to kiss!” He laughed nervously rubbing the back of his neck. 

He looked up meeting Tsukishima’s eyes with furrowed, confused eyebrows. “I’ve had a crush you for three years, Tsukki…” he swallowed hard and twiddle his thumbs biting his lower lip, there was no point in pretending it wasn’t true anymore. Tsukishima nodded with a shrug, “Yeah, I figured, it sort of came with dating” he said shrugging lightly. Yamaguchi barked out a tired laugh and rubbed his face with his hands groaning loudly, “We’ve never even kissed!” He said, voice muffled by his hands.

There was a pause. Before he heard Tsukishima clear his throat, “I figured we were too young for that kind of stuff until recently” he mumbled and Yamaguchi had to look up as quickly as he could to not miss the way the tips of his ears and his cheeks tinged pink from embarrassment. Was Tsukki embarrassed? Had he thought about kissing?! 

His mouth screwed up in a pursed smile, Yamaguchi looked back down, how had he never noticed he wasn’t the only one with feelings? Laughing tiredly he covered his face and sunk down against the wall. “What are you laughing about? Stop that…!” Tsukishima’s voice was swimming with embarrassment, “You’re the one that forgot we were dating…! I should be laughing at you!” He snapped before Yamaguchi looked up still laughing with tears in his eyes. “Why are you crying??” He asked exasperatedly, kneeling down to grab Yamaguchi’s shoulders and shake him a little to break him from the mental breakdown Yamaguchi was obviously having as he continued laughing and crying at the same time. Wiping his tears and stifling a sob, Yamaguchi grinned up at him through tears “Because I love you, Tsukki!” He chuckled and touched Tsukishima’s cheeks with his tear stained hands.

Tsukishima‘s face screwed up and turn red at his statement looking away quickly, “O-Obviously! Shut up Yamaguchi” he snapped before pulling Yamaguchi into a hug. As much as he hated hugging, he had to stop the brunette’s crying before it got worse. Yamaguchi continued crying and laughing as he held onto Tsukishima’s jacket and hid his face in his shoulder.  
\--  
“So this whole time you had forgotten I asked you out?” 

The sun was setting by the time Yamaguchi and Tsukishima locked up the gym and headed home, the orange and red tint of the sunset colored the buildings they passed. They had walked home together countless times, but this felt different, though only to Yamaguchi. It felt like everything had finally fallen into place.

“No I remembered, I thought you were being sarcastic! Literally!” Yamaguchi answered, raising his eyebrow at the snort that Tsukishima responded with. “When am I ever being sarcastic?” Tsukishima asked and looked at the pointed glare from his boyfriend, “Point taken. Well, I wasn’t being sarcastic. I knew even then that I wanted to date you…” he shrugged enjoying the way Yamaguchi’s eyes lit up at his words. “You are such a sap!” Yamaguchi laughed lightly bumping Tsukishima with his shoulder. 

“Shut up, Yamaguchi”

“Never!” Yamaguchi giggled bumping shoulders with him again until Tsukishima looked at him and he could grin at him properly, he didn’t miss the small smile he received from the taller boy. “So when is our anniversary?” He asked curiously when Tsukishima‘s hand found his and laced their fingers together. Feeling his cold hand pressed in his was more than he had ever wanted and the feeling made his stomach do sommersaults. 

“Today actually, remember we were going out to dinner tonight?” Tsukishima said like it wasn’t a big deal. Yamaguchi’s jaw dropped. “What?! Today?! How did I never know?!” He whined at Tsukishima‘s smirk. “God you are the worst boyfriend!” Tsukishima said sarcastically, “No, seriously, how did I not know?! Why did you never tell me??” Yamaguchi gaped at the indifference on Tsukishima’s face. “I asked on our first year anniversary and you said you weren’t big on them” he shrugged, he felt the same anyway. 

“Ugggghhhhhhh!! I only said that because that’s how my parents are! You know that! I do care about anniversaries!! Especially if it’s… ours” he mumbled blushing darkly. All he had wanted for years was to have a day to call theirs. And only theirs. Tsukishima noticed the pout on his face and pulled him to look at him, “No time like the present to start then, huh?” He asked, his hand moving from Yamaguchi’s to the curve of his spine, pulling Yamaguchi close to him. 

Yamaguchi pursed his lips, his eyes flitting between Tsukishima‘s eyes and lips before stepping closer looking up with a gentle nod, “Definitely…” he murmured quietly before he leaned close to bring their lips together.

Yamaguchi’s hand moved up to cup Tsukishima’s cheek and tilt his head to deepen the kiss. His entire body felt on fire. He was finally feeling what he had been secretly (Although, apparently not secretly enough!) wanting for years. 

Pulling away, Yamaguchi smiled up at Tsukishima pressing their foreheads together and closing his eyes enjoying the feeling of being in the blondes arms. 

“Three years for our first kiss? At this rate we’ll be thirty before we have sex” Tsukishima mumbled with a smirk before Yamaguchi snorted loudly, smacking his arm and pulled away laughing.

“You are the worst boyfriend”

“At least I knew we were dating…”

“Want to go to the usual place for dinner?”

“Obviously.”

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaahhhh the otp kills me!! Thanks for reading!!


End file.
